How to blog for your small business

Content marketing is a requirement for success in today’s competitive business environment. For small businesses, your webpage can be an integral way to expand your company’s consumer base. According to Social Media Today, once on your website, visitors will desire high-quality, information-rich, high-impact, insightful and engaging blog content. Because we live in the information age, it’s important to make your blog unique to ensure that your online readers will transfer to clientele. How can you stand out and rise above your competition in the content marketing game? Strategic content marketing starts with better business blogging.

Excellent content creation calls for commitment, creativity, tenacity, real-time industry knowledge and high-quality writing. There are many benefits of maintaining a business blog for your small company, including amplified lead generation marketing opportunities and visibility. According to HubSpot, companies with blogs attract 55 percent more website visitors and generate 97 percent more inbound links. The source reports that firms with blogs produce 434 percent more indexed web pages than companies without blogs. The more frequently you publish blog content, the more website traffic and leads you will be able to produce. Companies that post blog content at least 20 times per month attract over five times more website traffic than those that post content less than four times per month, according to the source. Further, companies that blog at least 20 times per month generate four times more leads than companies that do not maintain blogs at all.

Blogging keeps your website from going stale, which is a highly advantageous search engine optimization tip. If you want to rank highly for your targeted keywords, fresh content is essential. Excellent content creation on a consistent basis is a serious undertaking. It’s no secret that small business owners and operators are very busy people. CBS News reports that the heads of small companies clock nearly 50 hours a week on average. So when can small business operators find time to blog? Here are a few tips to help make better business blogging a less daunting – and even enjoyable – task.

Set attainable goals
Having a list of clearly outlined targets is a good first step when considering the best ways to market your small business. In the case of better business blogging, this means creating a realistic and manageable schedule. Make a plan for how many blogs you aim to publish in a month, and then work to achieve that number. Still, it’s important not to overwhelm yourself with work. Remember that you don’t have to blog everyday, and your blog entries do not have to exceed 500 words.

Keep a list of ideas
According to Business 2 Community, one of the most frequently encountered blogging problems that frustrates small business owners is the task of coming up with topics. Many feel uninspired when they sit down to write an entry. Luckily, there are ways to make thinking creatively about what to include in your blog much easier. Consider how plotting out topics ahead of time could take some pressure off your deadlines. Jot down notes throughout the day as the ideas come to you. You can organize these notes in a file either on your smartphone, your computer or at your desk.

Keep in mind that you don’t need to reinvent the wheel for every blog post. As a small business owner, you don’t need to think up completely new content for each entry. Chances are, you already have material on your website that can be easily reworked into an interesting blog post.

Reach out for help
The decision to create, manage, and update a blog on your small business’s website can be overwhelming – but don’t feel like you need to take charge of all aspects on your own. Instead, look to your employees, friends in the industry and even your vendors to help you out from time to time! Guest blogging can help ease your writing burden and keep your content diversified, which readers tend to appreciate. Make sure that whomever you choose to enlist is trusted, loyal and well-trained, because a blogging misstep can have serious consequences. After all, your blog is a representation of your firm, and therefore the content and tone of all your entries should be professional. If you are unable to create such content within your organization or find someone suitable to guest blog, consider hiring a marketing agency or some freelance content writers.

With these tips, marketing your business with a top-notch blog should be a breeze. If you publish frequent, inspiring entries, you can separate your small business from your competitors and grow your brand. Don’t wait any longer to create a blog for your company to drive traffic to your website and eventually increase your bottom line.

Does your small business have a blog or are you considering starting one?

Martin Jones is a Senior Marketing Manager with the corporate Cox Communications social media team where he assists in leading strategy, campaign ideation and marketing execution for Cox Business social media & content marketing. Today, over 1 million fans engage with Cox Communications content, campaigns and Customer Care on Facebook, Twitter, You Tube. LinkedIn and Google+.